Video Games for PE Class

With the advent of the age of virtual reality, one aspect of it will completely change the way we play video games. We won’t just use our fingers anymore. Virtual reality headsets are now being paired with handsets and motion-capture cameras to give players a full-body experience. Devices like the HTC Vive are about to be released and can give an experience not just for your eyes, but will require you to move your body too. Sean Buckley at Engadget has a great article on this from the perspective of a typical gamer titled “I’m too out of shape for virtual reality”. It’s a pretty accurate assessment of the trend of virtual reality towards a soon-to-be-realized existence, full-body interaction.

For schools, this means the possibilities of getting kids active just got better. Though the costs are high and pretty much prohibitive for most schools now, a school with a virtual reality room would be like the Starship Enterprise and its fantastic holodeck. Imagine kids running laps but doing it with the bulls in Pamplona, or racing on obstacle courses modeled after a level in Super Mario Bros. Even using Google Cardboard requires you to at least move yourself in a circle (or twirl around in a swiveling chair). All to say, those kids who refuse to dress for PE, their minds are about to be changed in a big way.